Paula’s Choice Sun 365 Self-Tanning Foam Review

“Get Glowing!” ~ Paula’s Choice

The new SUN 365 Self-Tanning Foam – $15from Paula’s Choice has arrived, and just in time to start your summertime self-tanning routine! This streak-free foam delivers a natural golden tan within a few hours, and it’s lasting power is rather impressive. Today I’m sharing a full review, photos and a “body swatch” of what this self-tanning foam can do.

• review •

The Paula’s Choice 365 Self-Tanning Foam is a lightly tinted quick-drying foam that will give the skin a golden tan within a few hours.

To apply, I like to use a tanning mitt like the one found here at Ulta Beauty. I find this rubs the product in evenly (more so than with gloves) and it protects my hands against staining. This product delivers in it’s quick-drying claim, so it is easy to get dressed soon after application. I did not test this with white clothing, however, I never put on white clothing immediately after applying self-tanner anyway.

Although the product claims it is lightly tinted so you can see where you have applied, even on my light skintone I cannot see the product once it is applied to the skin. At first I was concerned I might over apply in areas, or miss areas, but concentrating on make sure the product felt like it was all over was sufficient, and the end result was not blotchy or over-applied.

One of the benefits of this product is the before-tan prepping of the skin. Paula’s Choice suggests to gently exfoliate (don’t overdo it) in the shower, fully towel dry and then apply light layer of Paula’s Choice Moisturizer. With other self-tanning products I’ve used, I’m nervous I will not exfoliate enough, and then I do not want to apply moisturizer in case it will render the tanning product ineffective. With the Sun 365 I applied it even with the light exfoliation and light lotion application, and I still achieved even-tanned results!

Paula’s Choice states this product is “specially formulated to minimize or eliminate that telltale self-tanner odor” which I can agree with. Typically self-tanning products tout their product to be free of the horrid self-tanner odor and I have not found that to be true for my sniffer anyway, however, with the Sun 365 Self-Tanning Foam although I could smell the self-tanner on my skin for the first day, it significantly faded after my first shower (the next day) and each day it became much lighter, to where by the third day I could barely smell it. This is highly acceptable to me especially comparing it to other brands that leave my skin smelling throughout the duration of the “tan”.

After application, my “tan” began to develop within three hours, and was fully developed the next morning. The result on my skin was a rich golden tan that made my husband comment, “Wow! That looks like a real tan!” (and ladies, when your husband notices and comments on something like this, you know it’s true!). 😉 I was not only impresed with the color, but also impressed that the tan wore off evenly and lasted for five days on my skin, even when using light exfoliation in the shower. The photo below was taken after three days, so the initial results are darker.

Oh Yes She Did! This beauty blogger (yes, that’s me) tanned it up with the Sun 365 Self-Tanning Foam three days before this photoshoot. Although this self-tanner is formulated for use on both the face and body, I did not apply the tanner to my face. As you can see my face is quite a bit lighter than my arms/neck/chest…oops! Embarassment aside, at least I can illustrate to you the before/after in one shot, plus not to mention this was three days after application (yes I’m impressed!)

Remember to still use SPF even when using self-tanning products. This product does not contain SPF.